A BOSCOMBE boxer has won the same boxing championship as his father – 25 years on from his dad’s success.

Marc Plunkett Junior, known as MJ, won the Western Counties Light Middleweight Championship and is set to compete in the national quarter-finals this weekend.

His dad, Marc Senior, won the title in 1998, boxing for Poole ABC, in the 20 fights and under category, before taking the open class title the following year.

Marc owns boxing gym BodySnatchers in Boscombe, where MJ coaches alongside his amateur boxing career.

Bournemouth Echo: Marc and MJ run the BodySnatchers gym in Boscombe.

He said he was ‘really proud’ of his son for taking the title.

“He’s won exactly the same one, but after having a lot less fights than I had,” Marc said.

“So, he’s progressed a lot quicker than I have.”

Marc added that he knew the pressure MJ would face ahead of the fight.

“There’s a lot of pressure on you when you box, anyway, especially when you get hard matches,” the 51-year-old said.

Bournemouth Echo: MJ Plunkett took the Western Counties Light Middleweight Championship.

“But when you’re a coach of a boxing gym, it puts you under a little bit more pressure, and when you’re the son of the gym owner, who has also done ok as a boxer as well, it puts you under a lot more pressure.

“I knew he knew that I’d won that title. I knew the pressure that he’d be under but we never spoke about it, it was never mentioned until we were driving home after he’d won it.”

MJ’s title came ahead of the fourth anniversary of the gym's opening.

He had come up just short of the title the previous year, losing out to the eventual winner, having had his first amateur bout in March 2022.

Bournemouth Echo: Newspaper cutting of Marc Plunkett when he won the Western Counties Light Middleweight

The 22-year-old said it was ‘amazing’ to win the same championship as his dad.

“Winning it anyway would have been great, but to win it at the same weight as my dad, you just can’t write it really,” MJ said.

“It lined up to be a really hard bout when you look at the quality of him and the people that he beat. But in the end, it ended up being a comfortable win. I just boxed really well.”

MJ will be taking on the home counties champion this Sunday at Two Riversmeet in Christchurch, and the pair are hoping a home crowd can see him progress to the national semi-finals.

“The aim would be to win the nationals and see where it goes from there,” MJ said.

“The main aim was to win the Western Counties which we were confident I’d be able to do, and anything from here we’re just enjoying the boxing and seeing where it goes.”